


The Sirens Are Mending Some Hearts

by Lilsciencequeen



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Police, Christmas Drama, Drama, F/M, Happy Ending, Mystery, Police, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-09-30 21:55:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17231903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilsciencequeen/pseuds/Lilsciencequeen
Summary: When a series of break ins occur across labs all across the city, it is down to Fitz, Simmons and Daisy to work out who is doing it, and why. As secrets are revealed, will things ever be the same for the Fitz and Simmons after this eventful Christmas?A FitzSimmons Secret Santa Exchange for Jemannesimms





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jemannesimms](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jemannesimms/gifts).



> Happy Secret Santa reveal!! I was your secret Santa and I had so so much fun writing this! I had to split it into two parts but the second part should be up sometime before Wednesday, just finishing off the last bits of the editing!
> 
> A huge thank you to stjarna for the betaing! You rock!

“Got you lunch,” Daisy called out to her, holding up a brown paper bag for Jemma to see. “Fitz is joining us in a second, he’s just finishing briefing with Coulson!”

Jemma looked up from her work at Daisy, who was peeking around her office door, multiple brown bags in her hand. Lunch for all of them. A smile crossed Jemma’s face because she realised  it was much later than she‘d thought, the time approaching two now, and even though she had been in since five that morning, she hadn’t yet taken her break. She had been so engrossed in her work that she had forgotten all about it. “That’s amazing, Daisy. Thank you so much. How much do I owe you?”

Her friend shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. Call it an early Christmas present. Have you found out anything about the latest break-in yet?”

Pushing herself back in her chair, Jemma rubbed her face before focusing her attention on Daisy and standing up, locking her computer and grabbing her purse before she left the room. Daisy waited in the corridor as she locked the door, the two of them walking through the corridors, heading to the staff room. “Nothing. There’s nothing on these Watchdogs, whoever they are. Because it has to be more than one person, doesn't it? It has to be a group. I mean, how else were they able to steal all that equipment from Radcliffe Labs. And what they took… how many people are going to suffer because of this? Because work can’t be done! And the security footage showed nothing? And neither did forensics. There’s something going on Daisy and I can’t put my finger on to it!” She let out a frustrated sigh, shaking her head once again. Daisy didn’t blame her. She had been overworking herself for the past couple of weeks, trying to work out who, or what, the Watchdogs were, the organisation, or individual, that had hit three of the biggest labs in the city in the past two months.

They left no clues behind, no traces of DNA and nothing on security cameras, only their logo spray painted on the wall, the second floor of every building, looking out the Eastern windows. No one knew what it meant, and they had been working around the clock on it since. Not that they could devote as much time to it as they wanted to. With Christmas now only a handful of days away, petty thefts and burglaries were picking up, as well as arrests for drunk and disorderly behaviour. Everyone was working as much as they could, but it still wasn’t enough. Every day was just another series of challenges that, as much as she loved the festive season, Jemma couldn’t wait for it to be over. She wanted it over, the Watchdogs caught, and to go back to solving the occasional murder. But unless something happened, unless the Watchdogs messed up and left a single clue behind, that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.

She was so lost in her thoughts, in all that was happening, it took her a moment to realise that Daisy was calling to her, standing several feet away beside the door to the staffroom. “Earth to Simmons! Are you there?” 

Spinning on the spot, Jemma hurried back to where her friend was, and followed her into the staff room, the two of them grabbing a table together, and sorting out whose lunch was whose. It took a moment for Daisy to speak, gently kicking Jemma under the table with her foot. “Hey, you know that we’re going to work out who took that stuff, don’t you? We’re going to find it out.”

A moment of silence before Jemma spoke up but she sounded distant, confused. “Yeah I just… I just…” She trailed off, lost in thought.  Her mind was working overtime, and Daisy just hoped that it wouldn’t come to the point where it was detrimental to her health. It had happened before, and it wasn’t something that Daisy didn’t want a repeat off.

“Jemma,” Daisy began, reaching across the table to try and comfort her friend, wanting her friend to know that she was there, and that this would be okay. “Earth to Jemma, we’re going to work something out. Figure out who’s stealing the equipment, and why they’re stealing it, okay?”

After a moment of pause, taking in her friend’s words and being a hundred million miles away at the same time, Jemma nodded. “Yeah, yeah we are.”   
Daisy seemed satisfied with this answer, knowing that she wasn't going to get very far with Jemma, because if Jemma couldn't solve the case within the first handful of days, then she blamed herself, thought she was putting innocent people at risk. 

It was a trait she and Fitz both shared, something that made her love them all the more. And speaking of Fitz, he had yet to appear, something that Jemma had picked up on too. “No Fitz?” she asked, a faint blush colouring her cheeks. Daisy let out a soft laugh through her nose at that.

Not that Jemma picked up on that, because whenever it came to anything Fitz related, she was somewhat oblivious to the whole thing. It was so obvious that the two of them had feelings for each other, they were always with each other when they could be, and when they were with each other, they were always flirting, but it was so painful that neither of them seemed to notice it. Everyone knew that they had feelings for each other, everyone thought that the two of them should be dating, there was even a bet between certain members of staff, debating whether or not they would eventually get together, and when that would be.  

“He should be coming,” Daisy teased, kicking Jemma’s foot under the table when a banging down the corridor caused them, and the handful of others that were in the break room, to turn to the door, where a panting Piper was leaning against the door frame.

“We need to go. Now. There’s been another break in.”

***

“Sir,” Jemma tried to apologise, attempting to get into a very angry member of the board for Roxxon, but he wasn’t having any of it. He just kept shouting and screaming, demanding answers that they didn’t have. Not yet anyway.

“Let’s just go,” Fitz eventually whispered in her ear, taking her by the arm and guiding her away, and though she was gone from the source of the confrontation, she didn’t calm. He could almost sense the anger that was radiating off her, and though he wanted to, he knew that she would settle in her own time. “What he says, it doesn’t matter Jemma, we’re doing all that we can do!”

“But it’s not enough!” she all but shouted, stopping and spinning around so that she could look at him. “What we’re doing! Look at all the equipment that’s been stolen, all that was taken! It’s cost them hundreds of thousands so far, everything that they’ve lost. And we’re not getting anywhere!”

He could tell at this point she had overworked herself, that it had gotten to the point where it was stressing her out, to the point where all these late nights she was doing in her office, going over and over the security footage, going over and over the evidence, where doing more harm than good, so he took her flailing arms gently by the wrists, and pressed his thumbs gently into the flesh, hoping that the pressure, the contact with him hopefully grounding her. “Jemma, hey, Jemma. Jemma. We’re doing all we can,  _ you’re  _ doing all that you can. And that’s the important thing Jemma. You’re doing the best that you can. And that’s the important thing, and that’s enough.”   
Jemma, despite hearing his words, and nodding that she understood, oh so obviously to disagreed with him. She always did, it was just who she was. She said she understood, that she knew what he was saying, but she didn’t agree, continually blaming herself. He was just about to speak again when Coulson came over, a crowd of officers that had been walking beside him, leaving to enter the building once again, another attempt to see if any evidence could be gained.

“Jemma,” Coulson said, his voice firm but friendly, an authoritative figure standing in the middle of the crowd of curious civilians, ravenous reports and patrolling police. “You’ve caught up with the forensics for the other incidents haven’t you?”

Turning to face her boss, Jemma nodded. “Yes sir. But there’s nothing, I was thinking of conduction another test, look for more minute traces. I think that my search radius is too large.”

“Tell Claire what needs to be done. You’re taking the day off tomorrow, and the day after that.”

The shock was so evident on Jemma’s face, his words catching her off guard. After stuttering and stammering a little, she managed to get some words out. “But the day after tomorrow, it’s Christmas Eve and with all this new evidence…”

“How many days have you worked in a row Jemma.” He crossed his arms against his chest, his position on the matter seemingly unmoving on the matter. 

“Twenty,” she mumbled, as if she were ashamed to mention this.

“You’re taking the days off Jemma.” And with that he walked off, not arguing with Jemma anymore.

***

“What are you doing here?” he asked, leaning against her door frame, a smirk on his face. “I thought that Coulson had given you the night off.”

“I swapped with Piper. She needed it off, and after Dad this year… I didn’t want to go home for Christmas, not this year.” She shook her head, sighing, trying to forget about what she had lost this year. “So I offered to come in, there’s nothing better to do.” A pause, as she watched as he came into the room, a box of doughnuts in his hand, his smirk growing wide.

“May asked me to come in, we think we’ve made a breakthrough on the Roxxon case and I was going back to her and Hunter with these and I thought, well I thought that you would like them more.”

“Me?” she asked, somewhat surprised but not objecting as he took the seat next to hers, setting the box down in between the two of them. “What makes you…”

He looked down at the box. “Honestly, the doughnuts are irrelevant. I want to ask you something Jemma, something that’s been on my mind a while.”

The way he said it, the tone in which he said it, it made her heart skip a beat. It was oh so serious, and caused her to panic, her breath catching in her chest. Something had to be wrong, there would be no other reason for him to say what he had they way he had it. “What’s… what’s wrong Fitz?”

Sighing, he reached up and rubbed at the back of his neck. What he was about to say had been on his mind for a while now, and after admitting it to Daisy, she nearly all but marched him down here. He had begged her not too, but she refused to let this matter die, saying that if he didn’t tell her before Christmas, then he would, and after days of putting this off, he knew that he had to do it now or have it done the way that would probably be much much worse. “Jemma, I… I  _ like _ you. And I…”

“You like me?” she asked, interrupting him, taken back by his words, words she almost didn’t hear cause her heart was thumping so loud in her chest. “You  _ like _ me Fitz?”

He nodded, mouth opening and closing, no words leaving him. Jemma stared at him, her eyes on his lips. Finally, after several painstaking minutes he was able to continue. “Yeah, Jemma I do like you and I know that you probably don’t feel the same way but…”

“I do,” she cut in. “I do feel the same way Fitz. I  _ like  _ you and I thought,” she laughed, unable to believe herself, what she was saying. “And I thought that it was just me, that there was no hope for something to happen between us.”

“You want something to happen between the two of us? You want to try dating? All that couple stuff?” This conversation was moving faster than Fitz thought it would, heading in a direction he never once dreamt it would head (well, that was a lie, he had dreamed once or twice, what a life with Jemma Simmons would be like), but here she was, Jemma Anne Simmons

“I do want to try this, take a chance on us, as something more than friends.” She beamed at him, her eyes flitting down to his lips every so often, her mind wandering, thinking about how soft they were, what it would be like to kiss him. Her mind had wandered so far that she didn’t hear him calling her name until he used her full name. “Sorry,” she explained, shaking her head. “I don’t know what came over me there. I’m sorry.” And without really even thinking about it, or even knowing whether she initiated it, she was kissing him, her lips dancing over his. They were even softer than she had imagined, and feeling the gentle weight of his hand against her waist, holding and supporting her. It was all that she wanted and more. She wished that the moment lasted longer, as when they pulled apart, it was much too soon, and she couldn’t help but let out a tiny breath of disappointment. A soft ‘ _oh_ ’ that showed that she wanted the moment to last longer, but as she stared at him after, she couldn’t help but notice all the things about him she had never noticed before; the way that his eyes twinkled, a soft gentle blue, a summer sky full of possibilities, despite how low the light was.  How gentle his smile was, warm and inviting, with one side ticking up slightly more than the other. Just how soft his curls were, and how much she wanted to run her fingers through them.

“I don’t…” she whispered, unsure of herself, of where the future was going to lead her now that they had taken this step into the unknown but Fitz seemed to know, or at least he seemed to know where the next day would take them.

“Happy Christmas, Jemma,” he whispered, leaning in once again to kiss her.

***

After the progress they made with the Roxxon evidence, everyone seemed to work a hundred thousand times harder, everyone knowing that this tiny shred of evidence could blow up into something bigger, provide them with what they needed to find out who the Watchdogs where and what they wanted with the equipment. They had found a corresponding link with all the companies, and the equipment that was stolen; it was all linked to the pharmaceutical business, which gave them a motive, a reason for the equipment to be stolen.

“They’re obviously unhappy,” Daisy said, leaning back in her chair, throwing a rubber band ball in the air, and catching it again and again. “Angry with the pharma industry. So this is their way of protesting.”

“By stealing equipment?” Fitz asked, his gaze flickering to Jemma every so often, the woman bent double over the computer. “That makes no sense.”. Their relationship, whilst still private, was known by a handful of people. Though she teased them, she was happy for them, saw how happy being together made them. The soft smiles that Jemma gave, her attention on him as he spoke, how she hung onto every word. The secret handholds under the table and stolen kisses when they thought that no one was looking. It was adorable. Almost too cute. 

“It does.” Daisy sat up straight, spinning the chair so that she was looking at him, where he was standing against the wall, arms crossed against his chest. “They disagree with the idea that who can pay the most money gets the best stuff, so they take it to help others, or so that if the poor don’t get it, then no-one does. To them, this logic makes sense.” She shrugged, unsure what to really think of the whole thing when a single  _ ping _ rang through the room, a sound showing that a positive DNA match had been found, and when Jemma didn’t speak just stared at the screen in shock, they knew that it wasn’t good.

“Jemma…” Fitz asked, sensing that something was wrong. He rushed to her side, kneeling there as she stared at the screen, then at him, white as a sheet and eyes wide.

“It’s Charlotte,” Jemma whispered, turning her head to look at Fitz. “It’s my sister.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic turned out much longer than expected and I am so glad that people are enjoying it. Thank you for all your lovely comments! I hope you enjoy this part as much as you did the first! And happy secret santa fic exchange!

There was a stunned silence in the room as everyone took in what was happening, the only noise was Jemma’s ragged breaths as she started to cry, as it dawned on her that it was her very own sister, younger by only three years, someone she had basically helped to raise at some points in her life, and for her to do this, it hurt. It hurt her so much.

The betrayal, she… she didn’t think that her sister could do something like that. The betrayal, it tugged at her very heart strings, and the only thing she could focus on was the image burnt into her retinas, the image of her sister, a mugshot taken years ago when she had been arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour with the words  _ Positive DNA Match _ flashing underneath them.

She didn’t hear Fitz’s words of reassurance, didn’t see Daisy pacing around the room, unsure of what to do now that this case had gotten personal. All she could think of was that her  _ sister _ was working for one of the most dangerous groups out there. 

It wasn’t until minutes, hours, weeks later that she came back to the room, feeling Fitz gently apply pressure to her wrists, a soft squeeze to ground her and bring her back. “Jemma, it’s all okay, it’s all going to be okay.”

“But it’s her,” she breathed, her voice shaking, breaking from the pain and emotion of everything that was happening. It was so overwhelming, a weight pressing down on her shoulders that she had no idea how they were going to deal with, no matter what Fitz said. “It’s my sister Fitz, and I didn’t know. I’m her sister Fitz. I’m supposed to know these things.”

“You’re not. You and Charlotte, you aren’t even that close. It’s been months since you  When she nodded, he continued. “It’s going to be okay, things are going to work out. We’re going to solve this, we’ve been through so much worse before, and we’re going to solve this.”

“But how Fitz, how are we going to do this. How are we going to solve this?” She shook her head, either denying what was going on, trying to shake the thoughts from her head or trying to make herself believe his words, she wasn’t one hundred percent sure. If she could vanish from the universe, disappear completely, then she would because what was going on, she wasn’t sure how they were going to solve this without something being ruined, someone being hurt. “Everyone’s going to hate me, everyone’s going to blame me, they're going to think that I was in on it somehow, think that I am guilty..."

“They won’t.” He tried to remain sure and comforting, a rock as her whole world shook. He knew that being there for her, reassuring her, would help to settle her. “Jemma, they won’t blame you. They know who you are, they know that you’re not your sister.” 

“But what if they do…”

“This isn’t you, ok Jemma. Everyone here knows you, what you’re like. Who you are. I don’t know Charlotte, except from what you told me, but I know that you’re not her. That you are so much better than her, cause you do what is right. You help protect people, not because you have to, cause you want to. You have helped so many people, and if anyone,  _ anyone at all _ thinks that you are anything like her, then they’re wrong Jemma, they’re so wrong. They don’t know you. Not at all.” He leaned forward, placing a kiss on her forehead, and she just seemed to sink into it, as if it was the only thing in the world that could keep her upright in a world that had just turned upside down. 

She just nodded in response, before leaning into his embrace, resting her head in his shoulder as the first tears began to fall.

***

“Jemma?” her sister asked, once she entered the room. Jemma raised her hands immediately,, showing that she was unarmed, that she wasn’t dangerous. “You actually came?”

“I did,” she replied, standing across the room from her sister, not taking another step closer. Deep down, she knew that her sister would never hurt her, but after all she had done in recent months, there was part of her that didn’t trust her, not anymore. “Why wouldn’t I?”

It had been nearly two weeks since the evidence had showed that Charlotte had been involved with the Watchdogs, and with some backtracking with the evidence, cross referencing with what they have, they were able to confirm that Charlotte was in fact involved. There had been a few who had been shocked with the news, that someone like Jemma could have a sister that was like Charlotte, someone who did things that she was doing, but once their initial shock wore off, they seemed not to care that they were related. In fact, they seemed glad of it, knowing that this could be their chance at catching the Watchdogs and bringing about their downfall. And slowly, but surely, a plan started to form.

It started with Jemma getting in contact with her sister, offering to talk, a chance at a reduced sentence if it came to it for names. Charlotte had agreed to talk, Jemma just hoped that the rest of it would go as well as that had gone.

“Because you’re with them.” Though she never mentioned just who they were, the words were spat with such venom, as though she were ashamed of Jemma. “I thought that this was some trick.”

This threw her, but recovering quickly, Jemma continued. “The police? Char, what are you even talking about? You know my job, what I do…”

“Why are you even here? You don’t want to talk do you? You’re here to arrest me aren’t you? Here to bring me to justice and be the hero that daddy always thought that you were.”

“Don’t bring him into this,” Jemma hissed, her voice turning harsh at the mention of her… their father. The two of them had never been close, and after their mother had left them, they had only drifted further and further apart. Charlotte may have always tried to accuse their father of favouritism, but the truth was, it was Jemma who had been the one who made the effort with him. Not Charlotte. She never sat beside their dad all the days he was in hospital. She didn’t make the effort to ensure that he got to all his appointments, took his medication. She wasn’t the one who stayed up each night, making sure that their youngest sister was fed, was washed and ready for bed, for school. She was the one who had did all that and more, whilst And now here she was, trying to act like she had done nothing wrong. But that, an old family argument that would never be solved, and would never be settled properly, was not important at this point in time. Charlotte and her involvement in the Watchdogs was.  “What you’re doing is wrong Char, you shouldn’t be doing this. Please.”

“They’re stealing everything!”  her sister shouted at her. “They’re taking and they’re taking and they’re taking and we’re paying everything that we have to get what we need! To get what we need to stay alive. And they’re keeping secrets hidden because none of us have the money, none of us can pay. How many innocent lives have been lost because they don’t have the money!”

“That… Don’t go there, Charlotte, please.”

“He’s dead because of them Jemma. We lost him because of them! And we have the power to stop people like that, we have the power to save the world 

“No, no I’m not going to do that,” Jemma whispered, stepping back and raising her hands in the air to show that she was innocent and that she wasn’t going to be dragged into what her sister had been dragged into. “I’m not going to let that happen to others. I’m not going to let others lose who they love because someone else wants a quick buck.”

“But that… this isn’t right Char and I’m so so sorry but I can’t… I can’t break the law for you. You knew what you did was wrong, and yet… yet to continued to do it.” The words were laced with so much pain, but it was obvious that Charlotte didn’t care about her, others, not the way Jemma did anyway. “I’m sorry but this has to be done to me.” The door opened behind them, a slow creak, one that extended on for an eternity. The look of hurt on Charlotte’s face was so obvious that it tore Jemma’s heart apart, and even repeated whispered apologies didn’t seem to do any good. “It had to be done.” 

“Then what are you to me Jemma? I thought that you were family.” The words were all but spat out by her sister as Piper and Daisy entered the room, placing a furious, but unresisting, Charlotte into handcuffs.

“And I thought you were family too,” Jemma whispered, not really seeing or comprehending what was going, as her friends led her sister away.

***

“Are you okay?” Fitz asked, coming into her office and sitting on the chair beside her, resting one hand on her leg.

“It was Charlotte, Fitz, it was my own sister who was involved in the operation and I had no idea that she was… I know we were never close but for her to do this…”

It had been weeks now since the case, since Charlotte had been arrested (Jemma not having had any contact with her since, because it was decided that that was for the best). The world’s media was still focused on it, with them wanting to be the first to report any information about some of the modern world’s biggest heists. They were still deciding the sentences of everyone, with more and more Watchdogs now having been caught; some by the police, some stepping forward and some being named by Charlotte. They knew that it would be weeks until the final decision would be made, maybe even months or years before the whole thing was wrapped up, but as of now, they were less involved in the case and things were slowly going back to normal.

“Hey,” Fitz whispered, cupping her face so that she was looking at him and not the blank word document on her screen. “You’re not Charlotte and that’s… that’s the important thing of her. You’re doing the right thing, you’re helping others and that’s why… that’s why I love you Jemma.”

“You love me?” There was a hint of confusion in her voice, as if she weren’t sure what he was saying was true, as if she were scared to believe it because she didn’t want to have her heart broken. Not again. “You really love me.” 

He laughed at this, somewhat shocked by her response to this, as if unable to believe it. In the past few weeks, the two of them had become even closer, taking the step from friends to something more. They had had dates that were not quite dates, nights at each other’s house (and in each other’s beds), and stolen kisses in moments alone but the three words had yet to be uttered, not until now. “I do love you, Jemma. I love being with you; the late nights we’ve shared together, here or watching movies together. I love laughing and crying with you. I just love… I love you,” he trailed off, not sure where to continue, but knowing that he need not continue because he knew that she had gotten the point, well hoped she had gotten the point, by the way that her face lit up, a twinkle in those soft brown eyes of hers. They were so full of life and love, hope for the future. “I love you, Jemma Anne Simmons.”

She shook her head, unable to believe him, what he was saying, but she felt the same. She had always felt the same. Leaning in closer to him, closing the distance between the two of them, she allowed her lips to meet his, a kiss occurring between the two of them, one that was long and lingering, the two of them trying to make the moment last as long as they could. His hand remained on her cheek, cupping it, while hers hands came up and looped around his neck, holding him close. “I love you too,” she whispered, their breaths mingling before they leaned in again, sharing another kiss.


End file.
